Jupiter
by Belladonna Andromeda
Summary: Shikamaru and Neji discover the thin, frail lines separating sane people from madmen. In a moment of insanity they wonder.. Yaoi. ShikaNeji.


Shikamaru walked around Konoha without actually having a destination. He had been doing that a lot lately. Although the lazy genius hated studying he had always been rather interested in the history of warriors. Reading and studying that was like reading fairytales about brave ninja, legendary armies and proud Kage's who defended their countries with everything they had. But amongst those stories were also tales of powerful ninjas called geniuses.

Shikamaru had been on the verge of feeling disturbed when he discovered that most of those 'geniuses' turned out to be evil, insane or both. The most famous genius ninja was about a ninjutsu user from the water country who had actually thought raping women would inhence his dominance and masculinity, and torturing and killing children would give him eternal youth. The lazy genius had felt his stomach turn more then once as he read the story and yet for some reason he couldn't help but keep reading. He tried to forget about it but every time his mind was peaceful and empty it would come back, staring him straight in the face; the curiosity of the tale's ending.

The genius madman had never been caught or killed. He had one day completely vanished from the earth. Nobody had been able to find or track him down. Even to this very day people from every county are searching for the bones of the greatest ninja genius.

Shikamaru didn't like it. He thought it didn't fit. He thought that the greatest ninja genius should have been a brave, honorable man who fought with passion and pride and protected his comrades with his life even if it would cause him the mission. It just didn't fit, damnit! How could the world's greatest genius have been a mass-murdering madman? It didn't make sense to him. It just wasn't right.

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Neji closed the book with eyes as wide as saucers. He couldn't believe those stories he had read were true. Because if it were then about every genius who ever lived was a madman. Did that mean he was a madman too? Uchiha Itachi had been considered a great genius and there was no denying he wasn't right in the head. This was wrong. This couldn't be true.

The Hyuuga dropped the book to the floor as though it had bitten him. He stood up quickly and back away from as if it were a dangerous enemy about to attack him. Neji walked towards the door and out of his room. _I need some fresh air_, he thought. He sneaked out of the Hyuuga house/mansion and set off into the night.

The fire country's greatest genius had been a woman. She had been a fabulous genjutsu user of both great power and beauty. But because of this she had somehow gained the idea that she was a divine and superior being. She started to think that she had to protect everyone and look over them from a higher place so she decided she was going to live on the moon. The last time she was seen she was flying towards the stars using a strange device she invented that worked on chakra.

Neji shook his head as he thought about it. Impossible. He wasn't anything like her or those other mad people... was he? He had for a long time felt superior to other ninjas because he was stronger but that wasn't the same, was it? Was it?

The Hyuuga actually felt happy when he spotted a certain shadow-nin walking not too far away from him. He seemed to be drowning in his thoughts. And from the look on his face those thoughts weren't filled with happiness and joy.

"You seem sad, Shikamaru." Neji called.

The shadow-nin turned around with a surprised face looking for the person who called him. once he had found him his face relaxed and saddened a little again. The relieved feeling Neji had when he came arcross Shikamaru vanished. Shikamaru was a genius as well. Could it be that he was a madman? Who knew what was going on inside of his head. For all he knew Shikamaru was more insane then Uchiha Itachi.

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Shikamaru watched with interest at how Neji suddenly shook his head rather violently while saying "Don't be stupid. C'mon, snap out of it!".

"You... alright?"

Neji's eyes widened as he realized he had said his thoughts out loud and the shadow-nin had seen the entire thing. His cheeks redened as he silently shook his head.

"I'm simply troubled by certain... uncomfortable.. thoughts." Shikamaru sighed when he heard that though he didn't know whether he did it because he was happy he wasn't the only one or because he knew what Neji was going through and felt a little sorry for him.

"You're not the only one. So what troublesome thoughts locked themselves up in your brain?"

"History."

That single word made Shikamaru's neck hair stand on end and his heart skip a beat. Could it possibly be that they were going through the same thing?

"The history of what, Neji."

"The history of our kind, Shikamaru. The history of the ninja geniuses."

The shadow-nin closed his eyes. He was both happy and troubled by Neji sharing the same problem as him.

"You'd think that the geniuses of eternity come in the shape of honorable warriors and undefeatable heroes. Guess it shocked you as well when they turned out to be madmen, huh? Troublesome." Shikamaru whispered loud enough for the Hyuuga to hear him.

Silence followed. Neither Neji nor Shikamaru was bothered by it. They left each other in their own thoughts while slowly walking towards the only lake in Konoha. Once there they sat down quietly staring at the reflection of the moon dancing upon the ripples of the water. Shikamaru couldn't help but think of Konoha's greatest genius and how she created a vehicle to sail away to the pale silver orb in the sky.

"Did you also read about Konoha's greatest genius? Kuiko Hime?" the Shadow-nin finally asked slowly moving his head sideways to glance at Neji's glossy locks of dark brown hair and resisting the urge to reach out and see if they were as soft as they looked.

"The crazy onna who thought she was a moon goddess? Yeah."

"Let's say that she made it... in which of your eyes would she live?"

At that Neji also looked sideways studying Shikamaru with surprise and shock but the younger ninja simply stared back. Expression telling Neji that he was waiting for an answer. But how could he answer? That question hadn't made any sense whatsoever.

"My eyes? Shikamaru..." Neji didn't know what to say.

"Don't say anything." It was like he could read his mind although it was probably his expression that gave it away. Neji didn't like the way Shikamaru was loosing himself in his misty eyes. "Tell me, Neji. If you're the moon goddess does that make me the man who rapes beautiful women to inhance my dominance? Should I rape you, Neji? Because I find you beautiful? Should I?"

"Silence! Shikamaru! What are you saying?"

"Are we alone, Neji? Are we misunderstood? Insane? Are our souls made of the same substance, Neji?"

"Shikamaru..."

"You understand, don't you, Neji? Which eye? Which moon?" and with that said Shikamaru leaned forward, gently pressing his lips against Neji's. The older boy closed his eyes, allowing the Chuunin to enter his mouth and explore the inside with his tongue. Without realizing what he was doing the pale beauty wrapped his arms around Shikamaru. Pulling him closer, telling him that this was right in all the wrong ways.

If they were not so into each other they would've realized that the moon was slowly going under and the sun came up to great them instead. If they were not so passionately kissing they would've realized a crowd of people were staring shocked at what they were doing including their parents. If they were not so obliviously insane they would've remembered to breathe. But they weren't thinking straight. Their minds had left them, created a machine and left the earth to fly away to Jupiter...

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A little weird and confusing I think. Not one of my best but still review so I can figure out what went wrong and correct it.


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